The Dangerous Idea People

We must harness the Idea Monkeys for their good and everyone else’s.

“An idea that is not dangerous is unworthy of being called an idea at all.”
—Oscar Wilde

“Oscar Wilde was wrong.”
—G. Michael Maddock and Raphael Louis Vitón

You are an Idea Monkey. You’ve been told you’re gifted. You can come up with dozens of ideas about any topic on command. Any topic. You are (to quote the unappreciated movie Night Shift) “an idea guy, Chuck,” and whether it’s putting mayo in the can with the tuna or designing an app that matches personality types with the appropriate dog breed, you can be counted on for something new, different and wild. There isn’t a day that goes by in which you don’t amaze those around you with your nimble mind and your ability to turn any challenge into a brainstorm.

Idea Monkeys like you identify with Walt Disney, Ted Turner and Richard Branson. Heck, you are half convinced you could have been Walt, Ted or Rich if you had been born just a bit sooner. While we don’t always understand your strange and magical ways, we do believe the world needs more people like you. Like Alfred E. Newman, you fearlessly make us laugh and see things differently, which is why we believe that your talents are fundamental to making innovation happen. After all, who doesn’t like talking mice, CNN and vacations to the moon?

So what’s the problem?

That’s simple. You may be ideating yourself out of a job and diluting your company’s bottom line. You are likely distracting co-workers, confounding managers and ticking off your CFO. People haven’t yet forgotten your last “Dot.gone” idea or the flavored pet water that became the most popular, least profitable project of the year.

Yes, we know; few people understand your brilliance. But what you need to understand is that even as you read this, your name is probably being added to a file full of people who may be causing more trouble than they are worth.

Jeff Kaney is an Idea Monkey. He is the CEO of Kaney Aerospace, which provides world-class laboratory operations, engineering services and flight test support to the international aerospace market. He feels your pain. He also points us toward a solution.

“There have been points in my career that I have been so overwhelmed with ideas and, in turn, so overwhelmed because of my ideas that I was a distraction to everyone around me. In fact, one of the best ideas I ever had was to stop having new ideas for a few months. I needed to focus. More importantly, I needed to let my team focus. I also needed an operator with complementary skills. I feel fortunate I found time to make both happen.”

Let’s assume that, like Kaney, you have become enlightened; therefore, you are aware of the side effects of your brand of madness. How do you keep your brilliance from ruining your life and damaging the company?Use Your Powers for Good, Not Evil

Star Wars fans are familiar with the concept of the “The Force”—a mystical power that can be used for either good or evil. From our experience, most Idea Monkeys are a force who are earnestly trying to do good things but often unknowingly using their talents in destructive ways. For example:

They have far too many ideas for any team to take on

They have ideas about things that don’t matter to the organization

They are great at starting things and often lousy at finishing them

You get the idea.

If Yoda were writing this column, we suspect he’d say something like, “Focus on what matters most, you must.” This would be good coaching for a Jedi Idea Monkey (editor’s note: Idea Monkeys love mixed metaphors).

Where do you focus?

Let us answer a question with a question: Do you know what challenge is keeping your boss up at night? Well, your boss does. Why not find out if you are helping solve the company’s biggest challenges? If you are not, you’re likely creating new challenges (read: distractions) for your boss to think about.

If you are a person charged with managing Idea Monkeys—we call you the (Ring)leader—here’s a related idea for you: Instead of creating a “to-do” list for your most creative team members, why not start by asking everyone on the team—especially the Idea Monkeys—to create a “stop-doing” list? Make sure you make a list too. Clearing away the unimportant stuff allows you to focus on the stuff that matters.

Then let the Idea Monkeys go wild with ideas. As long as they are ideating on the correct challenge, you need to be open to unexpected, perhaps unconventional, solutions to the challenge. This is where they shine and can help the most.

The best teams and the best companies respect and find balance between the Idea Monkeys’ ability to create and inspire with big ideas and the (Ring)leaders’ ability to channel those ideas so that they have the biggest impact.